Gangplank/Strategy
Official Strategy In-Lane might be a murderous malevolent seamaster in Runeterra, but in-game, he’s opportunism in the (salted) flesh. We often reference windows of power, and Gangplank’s updated gameplay heavily rewards him for maximizing his. His passive, , hits like a warship’s ram in trades, with the true damage DoT capable of chunking meaty portions off his opponent’s health bar. With the accompanying speed burst, he has the potential to stomp in and saunter out of quick duels. "His passive, Trial by Fire, hits like a warship’s ram in trades." Learning to play the minigame is crucial for both Gangplank and his opponents. He has higher range than other melee fighters, and a ton of potential burst damage with chained gunpowder cask explosions, but the key there is potential. When Gangplank triggers the last hit on his cask, it explodes for substantial AoE damage, but even more significantly, it re-procs his passive. Skilled Gangplank players will set up casks ahead of planned trades and skirmishes to maximize their burst. But careful counterplay will allow opposing champions to defuse the gunpowder cask with a last-hit of their own, denying Gangplank his explosion and sudden fire-stick stabbing. Teamfighting The updates to his gameplay pattern solidify Gangplank’s primary role as a potent split-pusher, as he can contribute meaningfully to a teamfight from across the map without needing to use a summoner spell to join the fray. When split-pushing, GP needs to be mindful of his surroundings, even more than someone like or , who have built-in dashes or spins that can put a solid wall between them and their pursuers. While keeps him relatively safe from individual crowd control, he won’t outrun most gap-closing enemies without using his ult unless he steals an opportunistic passive proc. In situations where split-pushing is weak and team-fighting the strongest option, Gangplank benefits from strategic planning and careful positioning of his . In many cases, 'll let him skirt the frontline and dive the squishies with a crit-loaded . "Depending on his build, Gangplank can tank damage and crowd control with Remove Scurvy, or look to pelt opponents with Parrrley crits and powerful melee damage. " Depending on his build, Gangplank can tank damage and crowd control with his W, or look to pelt opponents with crits and powerful sustained melee DPS. By using the Silver Serpents he earns with , he can upgrade . Depending on which upgrades you choose, GP can help his friends make their escape, attempt to zone apart the enemy team, or concentrate fire on an unprotected target. Because the upgrades stack, you can even do all three over the course of a long enough game. Skill usage * is an excellent fighter in 1v1 situations due to his high single target damage output and CC removal. Always look for players out of position. * Do not underestimate gold bonus when used for farming instead of harassment in early game. * can allow him to stay in the lane for an extended period of time. * will cancel suppression e.g. and , though still does damage after the suppression is cancelled. * In a desperate laning situation, has a lot of ability to just stay in lane and farm as much as possible. range and mana cost reduction upon last-hits allow to farm even with the enemy efforts to completely zone him, building gold per 10 items let him stay in the game despite the enemy controlling the lane, and can be used to quickly aid allies even if you are pushed to your turret, and sustains you against enemy harassment. This strategy would prefer maxing for the attack damage bonus to better allow you to last-hit under your turret, with as necessary to sustain and stay in lane. Leveling up first in this situation is unpreferable due to the mana cost increase while the gold bonus increase is less useful than simply casting again and gaining another last-hit, or having more attack damage from to gain more last-hits underneath the turret while can be on cooldown. * can be used defensively and offensively, to be able to move fast for both, and have extra damage for the latter. * spells have considerable animation times. Take this into account when you plan on using or to escape a pursuer. * Use when pushing a tower. This can quickly give you and your allies the boost you need to take down buildings, effectively allowing you and your team to rush towers and your enemies not having enough time to defend it. * can be used across the map. You can help out in ganks/teamfights elsewhere, by assisting with the damage and massive AoE slow. ** Paying attention to low health enemies on the map can land you a surprise kill with . ** Try placing in the path of fleeing enemies to cut them off. * can save a turret surrounded by minions, with some luck. * Working as a team with other AoE abilities synergizes with your ultimate , such as , , , , or . * The Rage passive granted by or will activate if damages an enemy, meaning that dropping into a teamfight early can help you arrive there faster. Build usage * Because applies on hit effects like , , , in addition to his own , they are all useful items. * Even though active offers even more additional attack damage, its duration is very short compared to its cooldown, while the passive bonus is small. More attack damage items should be added to complement it. ** is a strong offensive item. * Because benefits from critical strike, critical strike chance and damage items are very strong. , , and will help maximize your damage output. ** Pure critical strike builds, although popular, leave fairly squishy. Though there is potential for high DPS, the heavy cost of low survivability including considerably low base armor and magic resistance makes it less than viable. ** If focused on farming and a strong late game, gold from is complimented by gold per 10 items such as , which grants a respectable amount of critical strike chance and can be built into and later on. * 'Tankplank' builds are very effective, offering survivability and a chance for to fully utilize his skillset. It also allows to increase his DPS as he builds towards an . ** is an excellent core item on , since 's bonus damage proc and speed-up proc all apply to as well as providing extra critical strike chance and movement speed which heavily increases damaging and chasing capabilities. ** Because and come at high costs, one might have to decide between or as the primary source of damage in a tanky build. ** A and could be a useful alternative to but at an even higher cost. * Cooldown reduction items are fairly effective on as most of his abilities ( , , and ) have long cooldowns and they also allow to use as often as possible. ** The unique combination of stats in or can make it worth an item slot. * is effective at jungling, though some runes are required to complete it. Jungle is based upon building and using to gain bonus gold by assisting lanes without ganking. This allows to spend a significant amount of time farming the jungle without missing opportunities to score assists or kills thanks to his high mobility. * If you find mana issues especially troublesome, consider buying an early and building it into later on. ** This is only recommended if you can keep up with your build. The extra 2100 gold cost may slow your build down early game if you can't farm up well, or if your lane opponent gets the advantage. * AP Gangplank, while an unconventional build, can make him difficult to kill and add a surprising amount of damage to his . effectively adds a .5 AP ratio in compensation for lack of crits and his will heal for much more. AP health items such as and would also help his survivability. When building APlank you want to get Litch Bane, Morello's, and Nashor's Tooth. This will give him 40% cdr and a higher litch bane ratio than Vel Koz's ult. ** Since his is classified as an on-hit effect, will not apply, thus only his would benefit from it, though the two have good synergy. Recommended builds Countering * Laning against can be a bit frustrating. has a fairly short cooldown and deals a lot of damage at early if it crits. Starting with and 5 will give you a lot of sustain and damage reduction to deal with this. * is very annoying to the casters that rely on crowd control to utilize their full combo. Save your hard crowd control until after he uses . ** Champions with multiple crowd control abilities, namely , can significantly slow down , despite his . Since this ability only removes the current debuff, one can use a "soft" CC ability (such as a slow) to force him to use , then utilize their "hard" CC (such as a stun or suppress) to really begin harassing him. Also keep in mind that AOE or constantly-reapplied CC (such as or ) are reapplied immediately after being removed, so with Remove Scurvy's cast time ends up actually taking longer to get past. Airborne CC (knockups/knockbacks, pulls) cannot be cleansed, so CC from Alistar, Aatrox, and Blitzcrank are not countered. * Although his early harassment is strong, is fairly squishy in laning phase. Putting an aggressive pressure on his lane will weaken his strong mid/late game. ** does average damage early game, but it will become quite effective late game, once he has built crit chance or on-hits. Try making him build defensively instead of desirably towards offensive output. * has a huge AoE and global range. Quickly avoid the AoE if he uses it when you are escaping. Be aware of its potential to appear at any time/location. * Countering requires starving him of his farm, get an early advantage by pushing him out of the lane, and forcing him to play with more risk than he would usually like. Teams should also consider prioritizing him as a target for ganks and in team fights depending on his build and his allies. * Being aware of his would give you an advantage if your kit has enough CC compared to the ability's fairly long cooldown. Casting a minor CC skill would force to use this ability and press your damage as much as possible within the interval of his . References Category:Champion strategies